Each month Mindavation will offer a template from our Project Templates CD free of charge. Don't miss out on this opportunity!

We are offering the Project Definition Document as a useful tool to document the project scope, deliverables and many other essential project management components to effectively start your project off right. This is one of the best project management templates to provide the foundation you need to set expectations and commence the gathering of project requirements.

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

This audaciously named book, from the authors of Crucial Conversations, actually got us believing that the title was accurate. Citing that many of us choose to "cope" than develop our influence skills, the authors do not suggest we just work on "getting people to do what we want." Instead, they discuss approaches to lasting influential change, by helping us change how people think. By observing the behaviours of those we are trying to influence, so as to derive ways to change thinking and behaviour, the authors focus on items that would be perceived as praise and reward (versus punishment and nagging) to make influencing others a relationship building and leadership exercise. This is accomplished via examination and learning what works with peers and others close to whom we are trying to influence. Using this observation approach, we can employ change to "cause and effect sequences" that inspire people to act. With the guidance of this book, new information, approaches and new benefits realisation possibilities become the tool of influence, rather than a protracted effort to "find the right words" to cause someone to do something different. The techniques are sound, they make sense and they are implementable by anyone who has the patience to observe and expand their approaches to leadership and influence. Influencer is a substantive book we are likely to reference frequently for years to come.

By Bob McGannon, PMP

OK, before you think we have gone crazy, we recommend more SHORT, FOCUSED meetings. As project managers and business analysts we often find ourselves with pressing deadlines, frantic team members who are juggling many tasks with little time, and senior stakeholders who place increasingly challenging demands upon us. At the same time, we face unchanging statistics showing that communications issues are at the core of project failures. How do you manage these two imposing situations? Have MORE meetings, but make them count, and do them quickly. Let's examine why we need these frequent, focused meetings, and how to best conduct them.

The type of meetings we are discussing here are usually no more than 15 minutes; on rare occasion they may take half an hour. Often they are run as daily "stand-up" meetings, in conference rooms with the chairs removed or pushed to the side of the room. This is optional, however, for some the "stand up" aspect of these meetings help keep the attendees focused. These quick meetings are usually first thing in the morning to prepare for the upcoming day, or they are the final thing done at the end of the day, to prepare for activities that will take place early the next business day. So, given this, why are more frequent meetings a useful tool?

Mindavation offers more than 32 customisable project templates and tools to make your life easier! The CD includes full project lifecycle templates and tools.

Documents are in MS Word, MS Excel, MS Project 2003 (and Adobe). Modify each template to suit YOUR business and project needs.

Price (including shipping & handling): AUD$125

Pick the top three issues that you or your programme manager experience as the most pressing problems facing the delivery of programs in your organisation...
Constantly changing requirements
168 votes; 47.1% of respondents
Loss of resources to other activities
152 votes; 42.6% of respondents
Poorly defined requirements
137 votes; 38.4% of respondents
Lack of organisational strategy or vision
117 votes; 32.8% of respondents
Funding cuts
88 votes; 24.7% of respondents
Lack or loss of sponsorship
82 votes; 23.0% of respondents
Not enough resources of any type
82 votes; 23.0% of respondents
Lack of required skills in the organisation
69 votes; 19.3% of respondents
Sponsoring organisation "impatience" - they won't let you complete activities
62 votes; 17.4% of respondents
Technical problems with the product being created
42 votes; 11.7% of respondents